Many types of outerwear garments such as coats, jackets and anoraks (parkas) are commercially available. Typically, a waterproof outerwear garment is made from a face fabric in the form of a laminate which includes a waterproof functional layer, with a bag-shaped pocket insert located at the inside of the face fabric (seen from the wearer's direction), and which is accessible through an insertion opening of in the face fabric from outside of the garment and has a pocket flap which covers the insertion opening of the face fabric from the outside, and which is attached to the face fabric above the insertion opening of the face fabric on the pocket flap.
In order to increase wear comfort, waterproof garments are nowadays often also designed as breathable garments. For this purpose, a textile material which is permeable to air and water vapor, but also permeable to water, is used as a face fabric. 0n the backing side of the face fabric there is a membrane or functional layer made of a waterproof, yet water-vapor permeable material. Expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) that has been treated with a hydrophilic material such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,041, is a material particularly well suited for this purpose. Water as well as wind which penetrate the face fabric is kept away from the wearer's body by the functional layer, whereas water vapor, which is produced when the body sweats, escapes outside through the functional layer.
To ensure waterproofness, the functional layer must be kept free from water permeable spots, such as, but not limited to, needle holes produced during sewing, and pocket opening areas.
One type of garment popular today has a liner called a "Z-liner", which means that the functional layer is loosely hung inside the outer garment. The Z-liner is mainly suitable for garments having a lining separate from the face material, wherein the Z-liner is loosely mounted between the face fabric and the lining. Such garments include coats, anoraks and jackets.
The Z-liner method is less suitable for light garments, such as bicycle jackets, light rain jackets and wind breakers, which are not intended to keep the wearer warm or which are intended for use in the summer and thus have a minimum packing volume. For such garments a two-layer laminate having a textile face material and a functional layer or a three-layer laminate having the two-layer laminate and also a lining material on the backside of the functional layer are used.
Such laminates are processed by existing technology as if they were a single textile layer. Here the laminate pieces are cut to size to produce a garment and then sewn together. Needle holes produced by sewing are then sealed by means of waterproof seam sealing tapes.
Insert pockets or pocket bags are found on the backing side of the face fabric into which the wearer reaches by putting his hand through an insertion opening in the face fabric. This insertion opening is frequently closed by means of a pocket flap. These insert pockets or pocket bags have turned out to be problematic. In a Z-liner design, the pocket contents are exposed to moisture if the pocket bag consists of a water permeable material. A pocket bag consisting of a waterproof material will not protect the pocket contents either because water which reaches the pocket insertion opening can reach the interior of the pocket bag through the insertion opening. This may happen despite a pocket flap if water is driven under the pocket flap by wind.
In a laminate design, water on the garment may creep along the face fabric of the laminate under the pocket flap into the insertion opening from where it will wick into the pocket bag. What is particularly uncomfortable is the fact that moisture may creep from the pocket bag to the wearer's body. Such a wicking effect may be, at least partly, eliminated by applying a water-repellant finish to the face fabric. This is, however, of no avail against wind-driven water.
There is a need for a pocket insert which prevents water from entering and exposing contents within the pocket to moisture.